1. Field of the Present Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to head rests and supports and more particularly to a mechanical headrest capable of being mounted on the top of a chair such as those used in commercial airliners, and adjusting a head support surface to a comfortable position for resting one's head.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Earl, U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,964, discloses a pillow unit for the head of a passenger in a vehicle seat that is attached to the back of the seat and supports the head of the passenger and includes a base member or sheet attached to the seat with a pillow extending outwardly from the back a sufficient distance and at proper angle to support the head in a comfortable position. The base sheet is attached to the seat back by a lower elastic strap and by upper patches or Velcro or similar material, which cooperates with other patches of Velcro on the seat back. In a preferred form, the pillow includes a cover and a removable pillow insert, which can be removed for cleaning purposes. Thoma, U.S. Pat. No. 2,582,571, discloses a headrest of the character described: a band providing reaches designed to extend across front and rear surfaces, respectively, of a seatback; a pair of triangularly-shaped bases disposed in spaced-apart relation with one another; each base having one side thereof secured to the front reach of the bank; the bases defining inclined sides converging relatively to one another in a direction toward the front reach of the band; and resilient pads secured to the inclined sides of the bases and projecting toward one another and away from the front reach of the band to embrace opposite sides of a person's head introduced therebetween. Howard, U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,781, discloses an improved detachable headrest, specifically intended for lawn chairs. The headrest has a metal or plastic frame featuring adjustable height means and quick release design. Cohune, U.S. Pat. No. 4,154,478, discloses a portable headrest for use in conjunction with the seats of public transportation vehicles. The headrest comprises a pair of padded supports which are secured to a chair back by means of a belt or a pair of hangers. The pair of supports are spaced apart to bracket the user's head and, in combination with the chair back, provide support for the user's head on three sides. The height of the headrest on the chair back is adjustable as is its position relative to the sides of the chair back. Each of the supports are also independently movable to adjust the spacing of the pads relative to each other. The unit is compact, portable and easily packed in a briefcase or suitcase. Schaked et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,736, discloses a removable headrest device for seats with headrest. The device includes two boards that are joined by an elastic and an non-elastic band that embrace the headrest of the seat, and extend forward a sufficient distance to serve as a support for a user. Velcro pads are used to cooperatively tighten the non-elastic band in order to keep the removable headrest device firmly in place. Advertising or promotional or any other graphic material can be placed in the free areas of the boards. Optimally, protective covers with advertising material are removably inserted on the distal ends of the boards. Knightlinger, U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,019, discloses a headrest for use in combination with a seat back structure, including a clamp having a plurality of attachment sites and being detachably attachable to a side or top of the seat back structure; and a cushion detachably attachable to the clamp at any one of the attachment sites, at varying locations and angles. The clamp is D-shaped and has a rounded front portion bearing the plurality of attachment sites, and a back portion. Each attachment site is tubular and is interiorly threaded. The cushion has an external threaded portion and is attachable to the clamp by threading the threaded portion into a selected tubular portion to a desired depth to effect a desired headrest location and angle. Graham et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,471, discloses a headrest that includes a cushion attached to the front of a rigid back. A pair of arms slideably extend from the sides of the rigid back. The ends of the arms are pivotal to an orthogonal portion for clamping to a seatback. The hook portion of a hook-and-loop fastener is attached to the inner side of each end of the arm for grabbing the looped fabric on the seatback. A pair of keyhole-shaped sockets are arranged on opposite ends of the rigid back. An arm is inserted into one of the sockets, and a side bolster is pivotally attached to the arm. The cushion supports a head in a neutral position without requiring the user to lean back, and the side bolster restrains the head from falling to one side. The angle of the side bolster is adjustable for conforming to a leaning head. In a second embodiment, the headrest includes a cushion removably positioned in a recess on a housing. A cylindrical rod extending from a side bolster is inserted into one of a plurality of holes arranged on opposite ends of the housing. The headrest is attachable to a seat with a single strap. Strassner et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,033,023, discloses a portable, compact, flexible and inflatable headrest for securing to one or two vehicle seats having a separately inflatable headrest section contoured for optimal head support and a separately inflatable base for inserting in the space between adjoining seats of a passenger vehicle or in the space between the top of a vehicle seat provided with an extendible seat head rest and the bottom of the extended seat head rest to optimize rest comfort for a passenger using the headrest. Syiek, U.S. Pat. No. 60,170,194, discloses a travel pillow for attachment to a shoulder harness seat belt. O'Connor et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,305,749, discloses a headrest for supportably engaging a person's head at rest to substantially inhibit neck strain. In one embodiment, the headrest includes a center portion for supporting a neck portion of a person's head and first and second wing portions for supporting first and second side portions, respectively, of the person's head, and padding covering at least a portion of the center portion and the first and second wing portions. In another embodiment, the center portion is located distally relative to the first and second wing portions, and is adapted to frictionally and/or abuttingly engage the back surface of a seatback to releasably secure the headrest to a seatback. In this embodiment, the headrest includes substantially U-shaped first and second intermediate portions extending between the first and second wing portions and first and second end portions of the center portion, respectively, for pinching or compressively engaging front and back surfaces of an upper portion of the seatback. Hingle, U.S. Pat. No. 6,394,554, discloses a “7”-shaped seat belt pillow that includes a neck-supporting pillow member which is adapted to be placed behind the head or neck while sitting in a vehicle's seat. The neck-supporting pillow member has integrally formed therewith a secondary body pillow member, which is angled to approximate the angle of a buckled shoulder-restraining strap. The secondary body pillow is adapted to be strapped to the seat belt and can be snuggled and hugged. Gilbert, U.S. Pat. No. 6,484,335, discloses a pillow apparatus that includes a pillow unit which includes a first pillow end and a second pillow end which are situated along a longitudinal pillow axis. The pillow unit also includes a front pillow face and a rear pillow face. A first strap is connected to the first pillow end, and a second strap is connected to the second pillow end. The pillow unit can include a pillow housing and a pillow cushion retained in the pillow housing. A pocket assembly is connected to the pillow unit. The pocket assembly includes a zipper or Velcro fastener. The pocket assembly is connected to the rear pillow face. Each of the first strap and the second strap includes a respective strap length first connector and a strap length second connector. The first strap and the second strap are connected to the respective pillow ends by respective strap-mounted connectors. Bisch, U.S. Pat. No. 6,601,804, discloses a headrest for supporting a person's head that includes a back panel adapted to abuttingly engage a person's head that includes a first hinge-forming groove at each end, and two side wing members pivotally and foldably attached to the back member at or near its ends with the side wing members including an offset portion with an axle rotatable in the first hinge-forming groove. Silva, U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,363, discloses a device that is a seat belt pillow apparatus for removably attaching a pillow to a sash strap of a conventional lap and sash type seat belt. The seat belt pillow apparatus has a sash strap cover, which cover is removably fastened to the sash strap. A pillow is provided with a fastener on its outer surface whereby the pillow may be removably attached to the sash strap cover. Jones, U.S. Pat. No. 6,782,572, discloses a multi-use pillow that includes a body member of generally cylindrical geometry having at least two elongated flat attachment strips, each preferably comprising a loop fastener material on one surface of the strip and having a smooth surface on the opposite side surface of the strip, and being attached to the outer surface of the body member with their respective loop-bearing surface exposed outwardly. At least one, and preferably two mounting straps, each having a first surface bearing a loop fastener material thereon, except for a short length of hook fastener material adjacent one end of the strap, and a second surface bearing a hook fastener material thereon, is anchored at one of its opposite ends to the body member at a location adjacent one of the opposite ends of the body member, with the remainder of the strap extending unsupported from the body member a distance that is equal to at least about the length of the body member, and preferably a multiple, preferably two to three multiples, of the length dimension of the elongated body member whereby the mounting strap is suitable for releasably mounting the pillow to a support such as the frame of a chair, etc.
Our prior art search described above teaches the use of a seat back clamp for positioning a head rest (U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,019) and a large number of head resting devices. However, the prior art fails to teach a head rest cushion that may be positioned at almost any angle and elevation relative to a seat back so as to provide a highly adaptable rest surface position. The present disclosure distinguishes over the prior art providing heretofore unknown advantages as described in the following summary.